The University of Memphis will open Black History Month by honoring one of its own,
Dr. Rosie Phillips Bingham, with the Authur S. Holmon Lifetime Achievement Award.
She will receive the award Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. in the Michael D. Rose Theatre during
a ceremony hosted by the Black Student Association and the Office of Multicultural
Affairs. The event is free and open to the public.

A native Memphian, Bingham became the U of M’s vice president for student affairs
in 2003, and developed the mission statement, “Students Learning through Engagement
and Involvement.” She had been assistant vice president for student affairs and student
development since 1993.

The honoree currently serves on the Council of Representatives for the American Psychological
Association, the Council of Student Affairs for the Association of Public and Land
Grant Universities, the Leadership Academy board, and Baptist Women’s Hospital board.
One of her personal missions is to help improve the lives of women and children in
the Memphis area. She also is co-founder of Black Scholars Unlimited at the U of M
and is published in numerous psychology journals and books.

Bingham graduated from Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Ill., with a bachelor of arts
degree in sociology and education. She earned a master of arts in counseling and guidance
and a doctorate in counseling psychology from The Ohio State University. She started
her career in higher education in 1972 as a student personnel assistant at Ohio State
and moved to the University of Florida in 1978. Bingham was associate director of
the Counseling Center at Florida before being hired as director for the Center for
Student Development at the U of M in 1985.